Sam Feamster experienced a breakout sophomore season for the Flames, scoring both their goals in the ACHA DI National Championship quarterfinal. (Photo by Jacob Summersgill)
Sophomore forward Feamster named DI men’s hockey head captain for 2024-25 season
4/10/2024 6:49:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
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The son of a former Chicago Blackhawks defenseman, Sam Feamster will look forward to selecting his alternate captains soon before welcoming in as many as 10 new recruits this fall.
With all four of the captains from this past season's ACHA Division I men's hockey teamgraduating in May, Liberty University Head Coach Kirk Handy and his staff named sophomore forward Sam Feamster as head captain for the 2024-25 season on Wednesday.
"We're super excited for Sam," Handy said. "As a coaching staff, we all thought Sam would do a fantastic job. No one works harder than Sam. No one's got a better reach across the locker room than Sam. He's a guy who exemplifies what we want on and off the ice, in the classroom, on and off the ice, he's a guy who wants to be a leader for us."
He said in exit interviews with the four graduating captains, Feamster's name came up a lot, as well as a few others that will be considered for alternate captaincy roles.
"That's the exciting part," Handy said. "Sam's going to find a whole new group of leaders. We're going to work with Sam to come up with the assistants as well. We have some great options to work through and the idea is we have everyone be in place before our (April 25-27 Select) Camp."
Sophomore forward and new head captain Sam Feamster
Feamster heard the news that he would be the head captain from his father, former NHL defenseman David Feamster, who played for the Chicago Blackhawks from 1982-84, in a video announcement Wednesday afternoon in front of the entire team gathered in the LaHaye Ice Center conference room.
"I had hopes that I would get the opportunity," Feamster said. "I wasn't sure, though. It was awesome to hear it from my dad. It was a really special moment. I had a little bit of a consensus from some of the boys, some of the captains last year, and then obviously the coaches made the final decision on that."
He served as an alternate captain during his last year of Junior Hockey, when he scored 40 goals and distributed 33 assists in 38 games with the Helena (Montana) Bighorns in NA3HL.
"I got the experience of what that looks like, but this is my first time since I was like 12 years old having an actual 'C,' so it's going to be a cool experience and I'm definitely ready for it," Feamster said. "Over the last two years, I feel like I've grown so much, as a person and as a hockey player, being here. I'm so excited to be able to use that the next two years, taking in the new guys and guys that are already here and pushing our team in the right direction."
Feamster scored both of the Flames' goals in a 4-2 loss to eventual national champion Adrian College in the quarterfinal round of the ACHA DI National Championships near St. Louis exactly one month ago on March 10.
"We know we can compete with those guys," he said. "They're not that far ahead from where we are. I'm excited to take that lesson and bring it every single day to practice next year."
Feamster expects to see a lot of new faces when tryouts are held in August, with at least 12 of 24 players on this past season's roster graduating or moving on and from 8-10 new recruits projected to be coming in.
"Our team is going to have a great mix of veteran guys and rookie guys and the biggest thing I'm excited for is just the hunger we're going to have next year, the intensity with eight new guys trying to fight for time on the ice," Feamster said. "We have six or seven forwards coming back. That's it. Our veterans will hopefully be pushed by those (new) guys and at the same time push those guys coming in. I'm excited because I know when I was a new guy coming in, I was fresh, ready to buy in, ready to work hard, so we're going to have good energy within that aspect."
Feamster hopes to find the right combination of players to serve as alternate captains and to take them under his wing and share the leadership responsibility.
"I know we're going to have a really good solid group of three or four guys," he said. "I would like to have an 'A' on a defenseman's jersey and a forward's jersey, just so we have guys in both positions leading the way for those guys so I can kind of delegate a little bit."
Feamster said he has grown in his Christian walk over the past two seasons and will look for continued discipleship from his teammates, including spiritual leaders and fellow forwards Jackson Vercellono and Truett Olson, and the Flames' coaching staff.
"I'm very strong in my faith, too, and those guys are great for just being able to reach new guys, guys who are non-believers on the team, and they are very good at making a connection," said Feamster, who was born and raised in Colorado and coached in a few FCA Hockey camps there.
He credits his parents for raising them well and his dad, especially, for offering continual feedback.
"It was just so nice growing up to have my dad know the game and get in the car after practice or after a game and hear his perspective of how I played and what I've got to continue to work on," Feamster said. "To this day, after every Liberty game, I talk to him on the phone and just kind of go over, 'Hey, what did you think of this? How can I get better?'"
He said he is always striving to improve and looks to lead by example in that respect.
"To be honest, I'm just going to keep doing a lot of the same things I've been doing because it works," Feamster said. "I just try to work as hard as I can and try to turn myself into the best player for Liberty that I can be. Other guys see that and hopefully jump on that train with me. I know guys have already, and it's great to see."
Despite graduating so much talent, Feamster is looking at the cup being half full rather than half empty.
"We're so optimistic," he said. "I think we have the potential to be better than we were last year, just because we're so hungry. I'm hoping all the new guys come in here and have that energy and from Day 1, we're just ready to go with intensity in practice, competing, and then carrying that into games."
